Discovery of a New Natural Product and a Deactivation of a Quorum Sensing System by Culturing a “Producer” Bacterium With a Heat-Killed “Inducer” Culture

Herein we describe a modified bacterial culture methodology as a tool to discover new natural products via supplementing actinomycete fermentation media with autoclaved cultures of “inducer” microbes. Using seven actinomycetes and four inducer microbes, we detected 28 metabolites that were induced in UHPLC-HRESIMS-based analysis of bacterial fermentations. Metabolomic analysis indicated that each inducer elicited a unique response from the actinomycetes and that some chemical responses were specific to each inducer-producer combination. Among these 28 metabolites, hydrazidomycin D, a new hydrazide-containing natural product was isolated from the pair Streptomyces sp. RKBH-B178 and Mycobacterium smegmatis. This result validated the effectiveness of the strategy in discovering new natural products. From the same set of induced metabolites, an in-depth investigation of a fermentation of Streptomyces sp. RKBH-B178 and autoclaved Pseudomonas aeruginosa led to the discovery of a glucuronidated analog of the pseudomonas quinolone signal (PQS). We demonstrated that RKBH-B178 is able to biotransform the P. aeruginosa quorum sensing molecules, 2-heptyl-4-quinolone (HHQ), and PQS to form PQS-GlcA. Further, PQS-GlcA was shown to have poor binding affinity to PqsR, the innate receptor of HHQ and PQS

Local Scour for Vertical Piles in Steady Currents: Review of Mechanisms, Influencing Factors and Empirical Equations

Scour induced by currents is one of the main causes of the bridge failure in rivers. Fundamental knowledge and mechanisms on scour processes due to currents are often taken as a basis for scour studies, which are the focus of this review. Scour development induced by waves and in combined wave–current conditions are also briefly discussed. For the design of structure foundations, the maximum scour depths need to be estimated. The mechanisms of local scour and predictions of maximum local scour depths have been studied extensively for many years. Despite the complexity of the scour process, a lot of satisfying results and progresses have been achieved by many investigators. In order to get a comprehensive review of local scour for vertical piles, major progresses made by researchers are summarized in this review. In particular, maximum scour depth influencing factors including flow intensity, sediments, pile parameters and time are analyzed with experimental data. A few empirical equations referring to temporary scour depth and maximum scour depth were classified with their expressing forms. Finally, conclusions and future research directions are addressed

Draft Genome Sequence of Streptomyces sp. Strain RKND-216, an Antibiotic Producer Isolated from Marine Sediment in Prince Edward Island, Canada

Streptomyces sp. strain RKND-216 was isolated from marine sediment collected in Prince Edward Island, Canada, and produces a putatively novel bioactive natural product with antitubercular activity. The genome assembly consists of two contigs covering 5.61 Mb. Genome annotation identified 4,618 predicted protein-coding sequences and 19 predicted natural product biosynthetic gene clusters. </jats:p

Local Scour for Vertical Piles in Steady Currents: Review of Mechanisms, Influencing Factors and Empirical Equations

Scour induced by currents is one of the main causes of the bridge failure in rivers. Fundamental knowledge and mechanisms on scour processes due to currents are often taken as a basis for scour studies, which are the focus of this review. Scour development induced by waves and in combined wave–current conditions are also briefly discussed. For the design of structure foundations, the maximum scour depths need to be estimated. The mechanisms of local scour and predictions of maximum local scour depths have been studied extensively for many years. Despite the complexity of the scour process, a lot of satisfying results and progresses have been achieved by many investigators. In order to get a comprehensive review of local scour for vertical piles, major progresses made by researchers are summarized in this review. In particular, maximum scour depth influencing factors including flow intensity, sediments, pile parameters and time are analyzed with experimental data. A few empirical equations referring to temporary scour depth and maximum scour depth were classified with their expressing forms. Finally, conclusions and future research directions are addressed.</jats:p

Responses of Vegetation Growth to Climatic Factors in Shule River Basin in Northwest China: A Panel Analysis

The vegetation response to climatic factors is a hot topic in global change research. However, research on vegetation in Shule River Basin, which is a typical arid region in northwest China, is still limited, especially at micro scale. On the basis of Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data and daily meteorological data, employing panel data models and other mathematical models, the aim of this paper is to reveal the interactive relationship between vegetation variation and climatic factors in Shule River Basin. Results show that there is a widespread greening trend in the whole basin during 2000–2015, and 80.28% of greening areas (areas with vegetation improvement) are distributed over upstream region, but the maximum vegetation variation appears in downstream area. The effects of climate change on NDVI lag about half to one month. The parameters estimated using panel data models indicate that precipitation and accumulated temperature have positive contribution to NDVI. With every 1-mm increase in rainfall, NDVI increases by around 0.223‰ in upstream area and 0.6‰ in downstream area. With every 1-°C increase in accumulated temperature, NDVI increases by around 0.241‰ in upstream area and 0.174‰ in downstream area. Responses of NDVI to climatic factors are more sensitive when these factors are limiting than when they are not limiting. NDVI variation has performance in two seasonal and inter-annual directions, and the range of seasonal change is far more than that of inter-annual change. The inverted U-shaped curve of the variable intercepts reflects the seasonal change. Our results might provide some scientific basis for the comprehensive basin management